Efforts IncreasedTo Find Chicago
Man
Costa Rican Cruz Roja (Red Cross) officials
are expected to beef up the number of people
searching for a Chicago doctoral student who
disappeared in a national park there, U.S.
officials said today.
U.S. embassy officials in Costa Rica also
defended their actions after incurring
criticism by the mother of David Gimelfarb,
28, who vanished last Tuesday while
hiking in the Rincon de la Vieja, a
35,000-acre national park in a remote part
of the country.
Eugene Santoro, acting public affairs
officer for the U.S. Embassy in San José
said while they have been monitoring the
search efforts, Costa Rican officials are
the ones responsible for taking the lead.
"We've been in communication with them since
this began,'' said Santoro, who spoke by
telephone from the U.S. Embassy.
He said Costa Rican officials have
dispatched an airplane to search the remote
area and are planning to increase the number
of people searching from the local Cruz Roja.
There were between 40 and 50 people
searching this past weekend, but Santoro did
not know what the number was being increased
to.
He said the boy's mother, Luda Gimelfarb of
Highland Park, had asked for a helicopter
with infrared capabilities to aid the
search. The missing man's parents had
traveled to Costa Rica after their son was
reported missing.
"The U.S. government and the embassy just
doesn't have the resources to provide her
what she was asking for,'' said Santoro.
"We're doing what we can in the context of
operating in Costa Rica."
He also said the area is densely covered
with vegetation and the country is in the
middle of its rainy season, with daily heavy
rainfall to the area. He said Cruz Roja
officials are experts in conducting search
and rescue efforts in the country.
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